


As the Summers Went by

by eliphya



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-03-19 23:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18980164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eliphya/pseuds/eliphya
Summary: Every year the Starks would spend their summers in a town down South, one year Robert brings his newly found son to join them but Gendry pretty early on realizes that he does not fit into the world of riches. Arya is there to show him that that's okay because she doesn't either.





	1. Arya 11, Gendry 14

**Author's Note:**

> I reduced their age difference by 2 years to make the childhood friends aspect of this work better I hope that's okay. Every chapter will depict a different summer of their lives, I will skip some ages though. The titles of the chapters show their ages.

A dimming mood had fallen over them, the moment Gendry and Robert had arrived. Expectant looks were exchanged over the dinner table, gazes that once in a while lingered on Gendry's figure, which was slumped over the food he hadn't stopped poking with his fork.

For some reason, Theon kept chuckling and Arya could hear how Robb would thrust his elbow into his side to make him stop. Her mother on her left side tried to keep up a conversation with Robert, who occasionally scratched his bearded chin seemingly deep in thought before he continued talking. Her father's expression was hard to read and he barely took part in the conversations that were happening.

Sansa was sitting on Arya's other side, with a needlessly straightened back and her pinky held up as if someone was taking notes on her table manners. On any other evening Arya would make fun of her haughty ways but this day her attention was solely on Gendry who was sitting right in front of her. He had only looked up from his plate once the whole time they had been eating and that time he had furrowed his brows at her. She was so occupied with watching him that she was not aware in which way the food landed in her mouth and that she had dipped her sleeves into her soup already.

Arya didn't know much about Gendry and most of the information she had, she had pieced together from the tidbits she caught when she had eavesdropped on her parents. She knew that Gendry was Robert's son and that he found out about it only a few months ago. She knew that his mother had died from illness therefor Robert had taken him in, which is why he had taken him with him on his annual summer holiday with her family.

From the look on Gendry's face, it was obvious that he didn't want to be here, she had sensed that much from the moment he had stepped through the front door of the summer house and judged both the interior and her family, only bringing himself up to mutter a half-hearted greeting.

"Stop staring at him like that," Sansa whispered in a sharp tone. Arya did not even consider listening to her and gladly ignored her command. But then her gaze fell on Jon on the other side of the table, he shook his head at her and she could see the mud he still had on his cheek from playing outside earlier today. She unfixed her eyes from the guest.

"So, Gendry, I hear you are 14 years old, is that right?" Gendry was just as surprised about being addressed as the rest of the children. He looked around, everyone at the dinner table falling silent and waiting for him to talk. Even the youngest member of the group, Bran, who was sitting at the end of the table with his wheelchair, seemed to know what was going on. He hated how a group of strangers was aware of the recent life-changing crisis he was going through.

"Come on son, don't be shy." Robert patted his back and he hated that even more than everything else, calling him 'son' and acting as if they were close. Gendry threw him a harsh look and Robert moved his hand to scratch his neck again.

"I am," he said in Ned's direction and shovelled some mashed-potato into his mouth just to have a reason not to speak further.

"How fitting, you're the same age as Robb, Jon and Theon." The three boys nodded at him. Gendry knew that Theon wasn't a Stark but he had no idea why he was staying with them on their family holiday, he smirked at him and Gendry didn't know what to do with that.

"We bought a new video game today, we wanted to play it after dinner," Robb said in a casual manner. Gendry guessed that he was trying to invite him to join them without actually saying the words but he feigned ignorance.

"Have fun with that," he said and he could see how it threw them off. The girl opposite him was staring again and he didn't care for it, much rather would he crawl into a hole somewhere to get away from everyone.

Ned, from the other end of the table, cleared his throat and put on a smile. "You look exactly like your father when he was your age."

Gendry's eyes jumped between Robert and Ned back and forth, he knew that they had been close friends since their school days, he didn't remember who had told him that, probably Robert on one of his preaches about why a summer in the South together with the Starks would be good for both of them. "If you say so," he answered.

Since that sleepless night 8 years ago where he had put his head on his mother's lap as she gently stroked his hair and whispered that it was just the two of them, Gendry had discarded the idea of a father ever being part of his life, and nothing had changed about that.

"Arya, how about you pull your sleeves out of your food," Catelyn exclaimed, fussing with the girl's arms and assessing to what extent she had ruined her clothes but Arya didn't regard her mother fumbling with her clothes and gawked at him instead. And for the first time, Gendry returned the glare.

* * *

\-----

"I can show you to your room," Arya had shouted, shooting up from her place on the carpet and throwing away the bag of chips she had cradled earlier. The children had gathered in front of the tv in the living room, their snacks were thrown together in a pile on the ground. Robb and Theon were explaining Bran which buttons to push to make the game character fight as Sansa was stretched out on the couch flipping through a magazine with earbuds in.

He could pick up on the dishes being sorted into the machine in the kitchen and Robert's loud voice explaining how the last quarter hadn't been very good for his firm.

Gendry had awkwardly stood next to the couch and peered at the tv for a minute before announcing in a low voice that he would go to bed. Little Rickon looked up from the wood block toys he was throwing around the room when Arya rushed to Gendry's side and told him to follow her.

He wanted to tell her that there was no need for her to show him around but he stopped himself when he recollected that he had no idea where anything was. He would have probably wandered around the hallways for an hour before sleeping in the wrong bed. So he reluctantly trailed behind her, still making sure there was enough of a distance between them.

Arya explained what was behind each door they passed but after the fifth one, Gendry stopped listening. The sun had long bid her farewell and the hallways were dark, only the occasional lamp illuminating their way. Faces were looking back at him from picture frames, which were littered all over the interior. He didn't pay too much attention to them but he recognized Robert and his family now and then.

Arya's head would bob up and down in his view as she had a little jump in her walk. Catelyn had rolled up her sleeves earlier but they were coming loose again from all the fidgeting she would do with her arms. When she ascended the stairs she shortly paused and turned around to make sure he was still behind her before she proceeded on her tour.

She halted in front of a door nearly at the end of the corridor, it was cracked a little, she pushed it open and switched on the lights with a "Tada." Arya faced him again to inspect his reaction to the room, when it was underwhelming she moved to the window and peeked outside into the darkness of the night.

Gendry saw his backpack by the end of the bed, Robert had probably brought it up. The room wasn't much decorated and kept simple, it was nevertheless much more lavish than his room back when he lived with his mother. His bed was big, far too big for him and he had a massive wardrobe he wouldn't need with only the little pieces of clothing he owned. He had refused to bring anything Robert had bought for him. He stepped further into the room turning on his spot once before realizing that Arya was still there.

"You're lucky you've got a room of your own," she mumbled against the window, he could see her reflection on the glass and how she distorted her face. "I have to share mine with Sansa."

Gendry wondered whether there weren't enough rooms for each and every person to use on their own in this huge house but he didn't say anything.

"You can even see the woods from up here." She had leaned closer to the window, her hand held above her eyes as she tried to identify the shapes outside. Except for the few lights coming from the village down the hill, it was pitch black outside.

Gendry stood still, waiting for her to go but she didn't move so he got a hold of his bag and slowly took out his stuff, hoping that she would soon lose interest and leave him on his own.

But Arya didn't do such thing, instead, she sat down on the bed and eyed the things he took out of his bag and spread out. For a moment, Gendry halted, not wanting to expose all of his possesions then continued with a sigh. He detected that she was about to touch the little green car toy he had since he was 5 and kept for sentimental reasons now more than ever, which fell from the front pocket of his bag. He saw how her fingers itched to pick it up but she denied herself that pleasure. "You like cars?"

First, he didn't even want to give her a reply but then he thought that it would maybe make her leave quicker if she satisfied her curiosity. "I guess."

She was quiet for a while and broke her attention away from the toy car. "How do you like the village?"

"Haven't seen much of it." Gendry had had neither the time nor the interest to inspect the town on their drive up to the house. He had watched the trees and mountains in the distance before he had reverted silently imagining himself to be anywhere else but in a car with his supposed father somewhere on the other side of the country.

"Will you stay all summer?" she asked.

"Dunno."

"Is this all your stuff?"

"Yes."

"You sure about going to bed so early?"

"Yes." He strained his voice to somehow signal her that this was her moment to go away but she stayed seated, almost too comfortable for his taste. He wondered whether she ignored his hints or was just not picking up on them. His hand got a hold on the frame with a picture of his mother he had buried deep down in his bag. He turned it around when he pulled it out and put it face down on the bed.

It caught Arya's attention, she hesitated a little before she asked the next question. "Is that a picture of your mother?"

The seemingly nonchalant way in which she had spoked made him angry and he pressed his lips together before he asked, "What's it to you?"

"Nothing," she answered reflexively, realizing she had hit a nerve but she snapped out of it and furrowed her brows at him. The glint in her eyes changed and she stood up, she was so short compared to him that he was still taller than her even when she was standing on the bed.

"Listen here, grumpyface," she resounded and help up her chin. "I'm just trying to make conversation."

"No one asked you to."

"Maybe, but there is no reason to be such a butthead about it."

"Whatever."

"You should be happy anyone even wants to talk to you, with the faces you're always making." She was stepping on his clothes and from the way she was stamping, he knew that she was doing it on purpose.

"Are you done? Can you leave now?" Gendry was gesturing toward the door.

"Fine," she jumped down from the bed, landing next to him with a loud thud, and stomped off, "don't expect me to exchange another word with you again."

"Thank you," he groaned after her, she had already disappeared from his view but had left the door open. He could still hear footsteps down the hallway.

Arya was almost at the top of the stairs when the bathroom door opened and Jon stepped out. He glanced at her first but when realizing the scowl on her face, he closed in on her. His wild hair was wet from the shower and the towel drying he had done had made it stick up like a mane. She could see that his face was flushed from the light seeping through from downstairs. "You alright?"

Arya's frown deepened. "I was trying to be nice but Gendry is mean and moody and told me to leave."

Jon's arm fell back to his side and he sighed, as he turned to switch off the bathroom light. "I can't blame him."

Arya looked at him in surprise. "Are you on his side?" Usually, Jon was the one she could be certain would support her, no matter how many were against her.

"No," he answered quickly. "I just think that if a stranger had brought me into a house filled with even more strangers, I would probably be the same." They could hear heavy steps ascending the stairs before Robert's big frame appeared in front of them. He threw a smile in their direction as he passed them.

"Uncle Robert isn't a stranger," Arya turned away from Robert's figure entering Gendry's room. "he is his father."

Jon was quiet for a while and Arya sensed that he was thinking about something, then he pulled the towel off his shoulder. "No, he isn't."

* * *

\-----

Gendry was carelessly throwing his clothes into the drawers of his gigantic dresser when Robert stepped into the room. He was already angry and upon seeing Robert's face he had to divert his line of sight first to tame his anger.

Robert looked at the few things that were still left on the bed, he was unsure whether to sit down or not. "So, how do you like this place?" he decided on standing.

"It's too big." Gendry didn't know whether his question was referring to the house or his room but either way, his comment was valid. Everything was big, the furniture, the rooms, the windows, the hallways, the yard outside.

Robert laughed and Gendry understood that it was forced. "Well, luckily it is or else we wouldn't be able to fit this many people in and you wouldn't have your own room."

"I don't need my own room, I can very well live without it." He walked to the other side of the room so that the bed was between them now.

Robert took a deep breath, visible by the movements of his round belly. "Listen, son, I know this is all very different to what you were used to but how about you try to be more civil with the Starks, they are only trying to make this easier."

There was that word again. "If you hadn't forced me to come here, we wouldn't have this problem."

"And what would you have me do, leave you on your own at home?" With 'home' Robert meant the other mansion he resided in. The one with even bigger rooms and no one to fill them with after he had gotten divorced and his family had moved out. Gendry had been given a room next to his son Joffrey's and he hated every aspect of it, the fact that he had almost a whole floor to himself and that there was help who prepared his meals.

"For starters!" When Gendry thought of home it was that small apartment above the Chinese restaurant where it was too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, his mother smoking out the window in the kitchen and stubbing out her cigarette on the sill. The place he had to leave behind two days after her funeral.

"You may have forgotten but you are a child and you are being a brat right now. What exactly is it that you are so unhappy about? The fact that you have a bed and clothes and food?" Robert's face had reddened.

"I don't need any of that from you!"  _He doesn't understand_ , Gendry thought,  _he doesn't understand anything_. He didn't understand that he had already accepted the fact that he was fatherless a long time ago. He was just one of those people who only had one parent, a mother who had tried to make the best out of her situation and put something to eat on the table at the end of the day. There was no one else besides her, he had already accepted that. He was an orphan now; an orphan who spent his summers in a mansion by the mountains.

"Well, whether you like it or not, you are going to get it from me because there is no one else left!" Robert felt bitter when he added the last part and stormed off. Just once he wanted a conversation with his son to end on a lighter note but when they weren't shouting at each other, they would be brooding in silence, there was no middle ground.

He almost bumped into Arya, who had been standing in the dark on the other side of the door. She didn't seem embarrassed by being caught listening in on their conversation and he had no strength to scold her anyway. He walked past her and descended the stairs.

Arya looked after him for a while before she reversed her head again. She saw Gendry's hand slowly close his door.

* * *

\-----

"One more point for Jon and Arya," shouted Bran, which was drowned out by the loud groans from Robb and Theon, as Arya landed on top of them with a wide grin, holding their upper bodies down.

"Aaand Jon and Arya win," Bran held up his hand with the stopwatch. Arya pushed herself away from her brother and ran laughing loudly into Jon's arms. He picked her up, throwing the rugby ball in the dirt.

"I can't believe we lost again," Theon sighed and helped Robb back up. Their clothes were covered in grass stains and dirt, his rear hurt from the dozenth time Arya had tackled them. Bran was laughing as he watched the small celebration she and Jon were having on their side of the field. Robb took a sip of water from one of the bottles at Bran's feet and breathed heavily, before throwing it to Theon to drink some too.

Theon wiped the water from his lips and threw the bottle back into the grass. "I call for a rematch," he heard Robb say as he walked up to Jon and Arya.

"So you can lose again?" Arya said cheekily. She was hard to catch because she was small and quick at the same time had an ungodly strength when tackling them. Her short hair had fallen from her ponytail and she blew the strands out of her face.

Theon sat down, sighing heavily again. "Can we at least take a break?"

"Not now Theon, we have to get them while they are tired." Robb lightly kicked him, motioning him to stand back up.

"But I'm tired too." He started pulling out grass and playing with them absentmindedly. Jon laughed and joined him on the ground, Bran too was rolling toward their small circle.

"Fine." When Arya had lain down too, only leaving Robb standing up, the eldest Stark gave up, "Tomorrow then."

Arya chuckled when she heard how Robb leaned into Theon and in a low voice told him that they needed to work on a new strategy. The grass was tickling her cheek when she spun her head and saw Gendry standing by the entrance to the house, watching their little group. She sat back up again.

He realized that she had caught him watching them and turned away, walking to the other side of the house, passing Sansa and her mother, who were eating ice-cream on the terrace.

"Tomorrow then," Arya repeated and stood up quickly. She grabbed her hoodie from Bran's chair, tying it around her waist, and walked away.

"Where are you going?" Jon called after her.

"I have something to do." The boys watched her vanish around the corner.

She found Gendry sitting on one of the big rocks by the side of the house and looking up at the sky, watching the clouds pass by. She couldn't read his expression because the sun was shining in her face but when he heard her approaching he beheld her with his usual frown.

Arya eyed him for a while in silence, her arms crossed in front of her chest and he too didn't say a word, probably waiting for her to leave him again.

"You want to see a secret special place no one else knows?" she finally asked.

"What?" The puzzled expression on his face was almost funny.

"You heard what I said."

"I thought you wouldn't exchange a word with me again." He lowered his eyes to the ground then.

"I changed my mind." She kicked the rock to make him look at her again. "Come with me."

When he still didn't move she grabbed and tried to pull him on his feet but he snatched his hand away from her. She examined him before she took another hold of him, this time with both her hands. "Don't be such a baby and come with me."

He did not make it easier for her but he stood up in the end, his hand still in hers, she dragged him away in the direction of the woods. When his steps became less heavy and his arm less tense Arya let go of him, trusting that he would continue following her.

"Where are we going?" Gendry asked as they passed the first row of trees and the denser forest began but she didn't answer instead lead him further along the loose trail. The house became smaller and smaller behind them until it was swallowed up by green leaves and nature.

"Arya, where are we going?" He had quickened his steps and caught up to her. She pointed at a tree by their side marked with a star a few feet off the ground. She left the trail and walked toward it. He did not understand any of the things she was doing but he still walked behind her.

"You will see it when we get there." More trees with symbols appeared on their way, crescent moons, suns and more stars.

"Are you going to try to kill me?" He asked after a while half-jokingly because she hadn't spoken in some time and it was unnerving. At this point, he had stopped worrying about finding their way back to the trail. Arya appeared to know her way around and even if they did get lost and never found back again, at least he wouldn't have to spend the rest of his life trying to avoid bumping into Robert.

"Maybe one day," she replied then started counting her steps and turned her body again.

They walked past a tree that had a different symbol, he could not quite make out what it was but he didn't have to because in the next moment Arya was explaining it to him, "The wolf-head means that we are nearly there, we only have to walk straight now."

"Nearly where?" he asked but she wasn't answering him. He sensed how her steps quickened and he did the same. In the distance, he could see a small shack, reclined against a sturdy tree trunk. It tipped to one side, exposing parts of the roof, which were covered with moss and a sheet. Built with different types of wood, its walls varied in shades of brown.

"Here it is, a special secret place." Arya took hold of a rusty metal plate leaned against the entrance and pushed it to the side, it was the same height as her. When Gendry stood next to her he touched the raw wood of the shack, he was tall enough to peer over it.

"You should consider yourself lucky, you're the only one I've ever shown this place to." Arya gestured for him to go inside. A curtain-like fabric hung over the entrance and he had to push it away before he lowered his head and stepped inside, Arya closely behind him.

Light fell through the cracks between the boards and the smell of wood was as intense as ever. Self-made shelves and tables were covering all four sides, they were filled with nick-nacks Arya must have found around the area; like pinecones that were especially big, or rocks that were unusually formed, he even saw some seashells in one corner and wondered whether there was a beach nearby. Strings of dried-up leaves and flowers were pinned at the ceiling and swayed back and forth when he touched them.

The shack was cramped and with both of them inside, and him unable to straighten his back, there was almost no space to move around. Right in the middle, several blankets had been spread out on the ground. Mismatched pillows of different sizes were dispersed around the room. Arya took a few pillows and set them up against the wall as support before she sat down. He copied her before she even had the time to invite him to do so.

"You built this?" He was trying to get comfortable, he was only just able to stretch out his legs.

Arya nodded. "Yep. Together with some friends, who live around the area. You can meet them later if you stay."

It was hot inside so Arya hadn't covered the entrance back up to let some air in, a soft breeze made the dried up leaves ruffle. Gendry's eyes fell on three wooden swords under one of the shelves. Arya realized where he was looking at and reached out to grab one of them. There were words carved into the hilt but Gendry couldn't read them from the way she was holding it.

"Sometimes we play knights or pirates." She thrust the stick into the air. "Sometimes this place is a fort, sometimes it's a ship. Really whatever we want it to be."

Arya started talking about the things surrounding them, pointing at each object with her sword to help Gendry keep up. She told him how she climbed a tree to get that one pine cone shaped like a heart or that they had tried to catch a squirrel with that bag of acorns hanging from a nail on the wall but it didn't work. She smiled when she talked about how they had each taken a rock and hit it against other rocks to see who could get their's the sharpest. He quietly listened to her, his gaze always lingering a little while on the objects she was pointing at.

Abruptly, she jolted up on her feet, letting the stick fall on the blanket. "There is something else," she said, holding up one hand at him. "You stay here."

Confused, he watched how she left the shack and a moment later he could hear how she was climbing up the roof. The shack was surprisingly sturdy, he let go of his fear that it was going to collapse from her weight when he sensed her steps above.

Suddenly, the insides were illuminated by the sun as Arya pulled off a sheet that had covered a hole in the ceiling. Gendry squinted holding up his hands in front of his face, the brightness had surprised him and he needed a moment for his sight to adapt. He knew that Arya hadn't warned him to get this reaction from him but he didn't say anything about it.

Arya's head poked out from the hole, he couldn't see her face clearly from the sunshine that was behind her but he guessed that she was grinning as she looked down at him. "We made it like this so that we could have a window, we kinda forgot when we built the walls."

The hole was big enough that a person could climb easily through and for a second he thought about joining her on the roof. But he stayed seated watching Arya's darkened face from below, her hair was untamed and she pushed it behind her ears.

"Sometimes, when everything is perfectly aligned in the night, you can see the moon between the tree crowns." She raised her finger to the sky, thinking about that time last year when she had snuck out to spent the night in the forest. Sansa had almost caught her in the morning when she had tried to get back into the house.

She readjusted herself on the roof, lying down on her stomach and supporting her head with her arms as she watched him through the opening. "You shouldn't always be so mean and join us the next time we play."

Gendry was taken aback by her sudden change of subject. Yet, maybe because he couldn't see Arya's face clearly or because they had a certain distance between them, he didn't feel as uncomfortable answering her as he might have thought. "I don't belong here."

She thought about that for a while and he could feel her gaze piercing through him. "There was a time when Jon used to be like that too," she continued. "When he found out that he wasn't our real brother but our aunt's son. She and his father died when he was a baby and he grew up together with us." Surprised that one of the Starks had such a history, he stopped avoiding her eyes.

"He still belongs here even when he is not my brother the same way like Robb and Bran and Rickon are, he is my favourite brother," Arya said that with pride as if she was wearing it like a badge of honour.

"You can belong here too if you want," she said, now softer. Arya could not quite understand why she had taken it upon herself to cheer him up or why she had shown him her secret special place that not even Jon knew about. Perhaps because she couldn't stand him being lonely all summer or because he reminded her of Jon at that time when he found out. But when she saw how the glint in his eyes had changed she felt confident that she had helped in some way.

She turned her head when she heard the approaching steps of her friends and their unlike frames, one big and one lanky. "Hot Pie, Lommy, I brought someone to join our pack!"

* * *

\-----

Slowly but steadily Gendry fumbled his way down the corridor, descending the stairs with care. He was afraid that he would knock some family heirloom over or a vase that costed more than the apartment he used to live in. He was thirsty and on his way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He had to admit that his bed was comfortable, despite his earlier misgivings, and he had fallen asleep in the blink of an eye.

"I don't know Ned, I don't know whether I should have brought him in," he heard Robert's lowered voice coming from the kitchen. "He is already grown and set not to like me." His voice sounded even more rough than usual and he soon realized from the clanking of glasses and pouring of liquor that it was because he was drinking. Gendry stood behind the entrance, hidden from the men's sight.

"Maybe I should have made other arrangements I was never good at this fatherhood thing," Robert said, followed by a loud sigh. "Maybe I even took him in only because everyone else left."

Arms crossed Gendry leaned against the wall, he had heard Robert drunkenly complain about the miseries of his life more than once back at the mansion, while sitting in the dark and speaking to ghosts that did not answer him.

"But who am I talking to, right? Father of the year Ned Stark does not have this kind of problems." Ned groaned at that

"Didn't his mother ask you for this favour? Taking him in was the right thing to do," Ned said, even when he was slightly tipsy, his voice was clear. "Taking care of a lonely parentless child should not be something you regret." Drinks were poured again.

"Even when the boy does not warm up to you, at least he does not have to struggle." Gendry decided that he had listened in to their conversation long enough and pushed himself off the wall, turning back to the stairs. He would drink something from the tab in the bathroom upstairs.

* * *

\-----

"How often do we have to tell you that the Crows suck?" Robb laughed, he was pushing Jon from one side while Theon pushed him from the other, the same teasing smile on his face. They were on their way back from town where they had secretly watched a rugby game. Ned and Catelyn were aware that they used their trips into town as an excuse to watch sports games in the pub hidden in some corner but they pretended not to know, to give them the innocent satisfaction of doing something rebellious.

"Shut up, they have great players, the coach just doesn't know how to use them properly." Jon broke himself free from their grasp and they laughed at the way he waved about with his arms as he shoved them away.

"Either way, they lost," Theon said, "Again." A smile was playing on his lips. "As they always do," he added. Jon was easy to tease and the expressions he made when he was angry, with his wrinkled up nose and his curled lips, were too funny to stop.

"I said shut up!" Jon stopped walking and the other two mirrored him, holding back their laughter.

"They play like crap and so do you." Theon tipped him over the edge a little more, knowing that this was the point where Jon's ego would come into play.

"Don't you remember that I won over you yesterday," Jon rebutted just the way Theon had expected him to, Jon held two fingers up in his face. "Twice."

"You just won because you had Arya on your team." Robb piped in now, standing next to Theon. They had tried to deny how good of a player Arya was for a while as she refused to accept their rejection for letting her join them. But one day, when it was just the three of them and they needed another player to make the teams even, Arya vociferously insisted to be that person. Eventually, they had let her and now she had become a valuable asset for whichever team she played for.

"I'm at least better than Theon," Jon said, not objecting that he may have lost without Arya by his side.

"You sure? Want to have that rematch now?" Robb was much more interested in this conversation now and stepped forward.

"Bring it on," Jon replied, he saw that certain spark Robb would get in his eyes whenever he was part of a competition and Theon's grin behind his shoulder. "We're two to one, let me call Arya."

"Can I join?" None of them had registered Gendry standing just a few feet away from them. He had followed their quarrel from the sidelines, after not being noticed even when he had softly cleared his throat he had debated with himself to just go back into the house but decided against it.

Gendry's expression was indifferent enough to make it seem like he didn't care whether they agreed or not when in reality the mere thought of asking them to let him play rugby with them had chipped his pride. The three exchanged puzzled glances and shrugs, this was the first time he had voluntarily exchanged words with them that weren't a snarky comment or a rebuttal. Wordlessly they came to the decision that neither of them minded him joining them even when they did not understand what was going on.

"You play?" Robb asked, taking the initiative to voice their confusion.

"A little," Gendry answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Any good?"

"A little." He declined to persuade them to let him in and he was ready to leave if they chose not to, convincing himself that it would not be that big of a deal.

Jon looked back at Robb and Theon once before he, much to Gendry's surprise, tabbed his arm. "Welcome to my team then."

* * *

\-----

"What are you looking at?" Arya had stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Sansa standing in front of the window as she passed the living room. She had her arms crossed behind her back and would move her head to the left and the right. She still didn't answer even when Arya repeated her question and only when she neared in did she realize that her sister was wearing earbuds.

Sansa startled up with a sudden inhale of breath when Arya came to stand next to her at the window, she yanked her own earbuds out and a pop song was now hearable from them. "Gosh, Arya, why are you sneaking up to me like that?"

"I didn't. You couldn't hear me because you were listening to music," Arya argued, for a moment forgetting the reason she was standing at the window in the first place. Sansa raised her hand brushing her words aside, with one more timid look outside she walked back to the sofa.

"The boys are back from the village," she said, picking up her magazine where she had left it. "Looks like the new guy is settling in just fine. Hasn't got a problem with us anymore."

Arya had already lifted herself on the window sill and pressed against the glass, watching with wide eyes how Jon, Robb, Theon and Gendry played rugby together. Jon tried to tackle Theon but he dodged him, swiftly passing the ball to Robb and running into Gendry on the other side. Arya's face lighted up in excitement, from how close she was standing to the window she could hear their shouting. The sun was starting to set behind them and the sky was glowing in bright orange.

She was about to jump down and join them outside when Gendry scored a point and Jon came up to him to high-five him, they were laughing and it was the first time she saw Gendry laugh. Without the furrowed brow and the brooding expression he actually looked kind of happy. Arya smiled before she slid the piano stool in front of the window and kneeled on it to continue watching them play together, she wouldn't want to make the teams uneven anyway.


	2. Arya 13, Gendry 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has gotten much longer than I thought it would. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Applause filled the air when Sansa's last tone died away and she stood up from the piano stool to curtsy for the crowd, smiling softly the way she always did when she received compliments.

 _Please, kill me now,_  Arya thought as she watched the scene, her father's hand on her shoulder. The party guests gathered more closely around Sansa and her mother, praising the girl for her excellent playing skills. Sansa put a strand behind her ear and thanked every person individually. They were so overwhelming with their praises that the growling of the thunderstorm outside was barely hearable anymore.

"So, is Arya going to give us a little concert as well?" a woman asked, holding her champagne closer to her face before realizing that her glass was empty. Ned tabbed Arya lightly on the shoulder and laughed awkwardly.

"No, our Arya doesn't really play the piano." It wasn't for the lack of trying. Arya had had lessons for a few months before her music teacher informed her parents that she always played too fast and pushed the tiles too hard. Arya was just not musically gifted, she had said, not the way Sansa was. This was good news to Arya, who hated the hour-long piano lessons every week anyway and could find better, more interesting ways to spend her time.

"Ah well, we all have different talents, don't we?" the woman said, she was tipsy and looked at Arya encouragingly as if her inability to play the piano was some awful fate. Catelyn had joined them again and silently smiled at her, letting Sansa run off somewhere.

"Yes, we do," Arya responded when the woman wouldn't stop looking at her. She didn't even know who she was, whether she was a guest of her parents or Robert. She brushed off her father's hand, which had still been on her shoulder and slipped between her parents to get away. Her mother called out after her but Arya didn't even turn around. The dress she had been forced to wear was making the skin on her underarms itch when she moved and her polished shoes resounded on the parquet.

Quickly she shuffled between guests, hearing conversations about money and politics. As she was searching for her brothers she saw Shireen and Myrcella talking by the archway to the library, and momentarily thought about joining them but then her eyes fell on Sansa whispering something into Joffrey's ear. He laughed in that snarky way he always did. His smiles never reached his eyes and they always looked somewhat sinister. Sansa probably only had a crush on him because he was the first one, who had noticed her in that sort of way teenage girls wanted to be noticed. And she was too much of a romantic to let go.

Arya turned away from that sight and quickly left the salon, walking towards the kitchen. When she stepped into the hallway, the laughter and conversation slowly fading, the rain hitting against the window became ever more present. She saw a lightning bolt glowing in the distance and felt the thunder in her bones. She looked up the stairs, the second floor was dark and felt oddly eerie compared to the liveliness downstairs. But she could do for some peace and quiet. So she ascended the stairs, hating how much louder the ruffling of her skirt became in the quietness.

Light fell from the slot under Gendry's door, she hit the door with her fist to let him know that she was there and stepped into his room. Gendry was laying on his bed throwing a small ball into the air and catching it.

"I was expecting you earlier. You held on much longer than I thought." His eyes were still fixed on the ball he was throwing. Arya sighed exaggeratedly, closing his door and then taking long strides in his direction. He stopped his motion when he caught her in the corner of his eye walking around his bed, throwing a quick glance out the window. "That's one fancy dress you're wearing."

He didn't say it in a mocking way and much more as an observation but she looked down at herself, unhappy with the garment, with its white collar and frills down the skirt.

"Don't remind me," she said. He instinctively skidded to the side to make space for her to sit. But she sat down on the ground instead, leaning against the bed frame. "Just let me stay here for a while."

"I see you are having fun downstairs." He threw the ball down at her and she began bouncing it off the wall. He was watching the back of her head, some hair had fallen from the knot it had been tied up in.

"Just as much as you would." Gendry had escaped to his room the moment Robert's ex-wife showed up with their three children in tow. All blond and looking at him strangely whenever he was in their view. While Myrcella and Tommen never quite knew how to approach him and awkwardly shuffled around their half-brother, Cercei and Joffrey gawked at him with a distaste and menace that made him both furious and nauseous. Robert's blood-related family had never been that including either, Stannis had voiced several times, how he did not understand his brother taking in a strange boy, who did not know 'their ways' while sitting directly opposite Gendry at the dinner table. Gendry only really liked his daughter Shireen from that side of the family because he sensed that she tried to include him and be nice.

"I already had my fun, I'm not going down there again, not until they all piss off." Gendry had been packing for the annual summer holiday when Robert came into his room with a suit and a tie, very well knowing that Gendry would not like the words that were about to come out of his mouth. A party, he had said, for the 20th anniversary of his firm.  _A lot of important people are going to be there and will want to meet the CEO's son, it will be fun._  He had already been to enough of his extravagant parties to know that it was going to be the farthest from anything remotely fun. The suit Robert had brought him was draped over his chair and there was no way in hell he was going to wear it.

"Well, me neither." The ball hit the wall harder now. "Jon and the others are doing something among themselves. I was with Bran for a while but he went off somewhere too. And whenever I turn around some adult wants to talk to me about school." Arya put the ball on the ground next to her and started fumbling with the frills of her dress.

"I hate the way they talk, how they laugh like we are all in some play and everyone is playing the same character." He silently affirmed that that was a pretty good way to describe the way they all acted. Gendry was quiet for a while and saw how Arya glanced at the window several times, the storm seemed to rage more forcefully every passing minute.

They heard footsteps down the hallway and shortly after, his door opened and Catelyn stepped into the frame.

"Catelyn," Gendry said surprised, sitting up on his bed, she was looking around his room.

"Have you seen Arya?" Arya's small figure was hidden behind the bed, he now understood why she had walked all the way to the other side of his room.

"No," he answered naturally.

"I see." She didn't leave immediately, he felt like she wanted to say something else so he kept his eyes on her. Catelyn glanced over his sitting form before she caught his unworn suit neatly draped over his chair by the desk. Letting go of the thought in her mind she turned away. "You should get some food." Then she closed the door again.

Gendry waited until the sound of her steps had retreated before he told Arya that the coast was clear. She stood up, from the expression on her face he could see that she was annoyed. Then she sat down on the edge of his bed. "You're lucky no one is forcing you to do anything," she mumbled.

"What makes you think that?" His stretched legs almost touched her. "I'm forced to do a lot of things."

She looked at him first, thinking about how he wouldn't rebut everything Robert told him nowadays. When her eyes fell on his discarded suit she said, "At least no one is making you wear a dress."

Instinctively, he eyed her attire, her blue dress adorned with white ruffles, which was the fanciest thing he had ever seen her wear and something that seemed as unlike her as nothing else. Arya liked running around the yard, climbing up trees, throwing herself into the dirt, with knees scraped and a stained shirt and leaves tangled in her hair.

"How about you help me avoid Robert's whole family while we get some food." He could do a few more hours without eating but Arya's face lighted up the way he expected it too once a scheme was involved.

"Sure." She jumped down from the bed and he chuckled at how quickly her mood had changed. Carefully, she led him out of the room and down the hallway, looking around as if someone could pop up right behind them at any second. He went along with the cautious steps she made down the stairs and stopped whenever she made a hand sign for him to do so. When they passed the entrances to the salon and the living room they did so quickly and with crouched shoulders. Around the next corner, Arya peaked into the kitchen.

"It's empty." The staff they had hired were distributing the rest of the champagne and wine. She had gestured for Gendry to come inside but he was already standing next to her.

"Have you eaten anything yet?" His eyes travelled over the leftovers collected neatly on the counter.

"Yes, I'm not hungry." He put away the second plate he had taken from the cupboard. "You sure?" he asked, already filling up his plate with meat and pie. She nodded.

A loud thunderbolt made them both wince, and they could even hear the guests' voices stifling for a moment. Arya rushed to a window, she could barely make out the trees fighting to defy the forces of the wind.

Gendry walked to the small table by her side and sat down, he ate quietly for a while, in which Arya did not move from the window.

"The den is gonna be alright."

"What?"

"Isn't that what you're thinking about?" He gestured with his fork to the anxious expression on her face.

"I'm not worried. It'll survive, we built it to be strong," she said defiantly. "I've already called Hot Pie and Lommy that we would meet up tomorrow."

He wanted to ask when she had even managed to call them with all the people walking around the house when they heard a snicker by the entrance.

Joffrey stood cross-legged against the doorframe and eyed them. "See what has crawled out of its hole."

Arya and Gendry simultaneously grimaced. Out of all the party guests, Joffrey was the one they wanted to run into the least.

"Go away," Arya exclaimed, she saw how Gendry's knuckles had tensed around his fork.

Joffrey ignored her. "I was wondering where you had disappeared to. We all know that this isn't really your sort of scene." Joffrey had never shared pleasant words with him and once no one else was in their vicinity he took every chance to lash out at him.

"Don't you and your fancy arse have somewhere to be?"

"Don't you have to be in the gutter somewhere." He pushed himself off the doorframe and stepped closer. "Are you stealing from my father again?" Joffrey bore a possessiveness over his father, which Gendry did not understand. Gendry himself wasn't particularly close to Robert. And in the few occasions where he had seen Joffrey and Robert interact, there seemed to be some kind of animosity between them. Nevertheless, Joffrey had never missed an opportunity to drive a wedge between his father and his half-brother.

"Fuck off." Gendry had wanted to punch him the day he had first seen his sneer, to wipe that grin off his face, to make it clear to him he would get his due if he messed with him. He didn't care the least bit whether his family disliked him, he could easily live with that, but Gendry had enough problems as it is, with spiteful comments hitting him from the left and from the right, calling him brutish and lowly, so he restrained himself.

"Didn't your mother teach you not to swear in front of little children." It was visible from the glint in Joffrey's eyes that he wanted to hurt him. That he felt satisfaction from seeing Gendry's face fall and turn red from anger, poking him over and over again until that clenched fist of his would not hold back anymore.

Arya had strode to his side quickly, pushing him against the kitchen counter. "Yours should have taught you not be such a dick." Joffrey fell against the trays with the food, some of which crashed to the ground. She saw a pie to her feet, picked it up and threw it in his face. He fell on his back and Arya topped him grabbing food and mashing it against him. "You stupid ass."

Joffrey was screaming and trying to free himself from her. But Arya was strong, unusually strong for a 13-year-old and defended her position. Gendry stood stunned at the sides, letting her pull Joffrey's hair before he rushed to get her off. "Arya."

He struggled with pulling her down from him but after a short while, in which she resisted, she let go just as Catelyn came through the kitchen door.

"What in heaven's name is going on here?!" She saw Gendry holding onto Arya's arms, who was glaring at a startled Joffrey on the floor.

"Are you alright?" Catelyn helped Joffrey up, who pushed her away as soon as he was on his feet.

"That little rat attacked me." He pointed at Arya, who was enraged enough to tackle him again. But she saw the reprehensive gaze her mother was giving her and felt how Gendry's hand squeezed her arm.

Ned had appeared shortly after, switching between listening to Catelyn disciplining Arya and joining her. Robert accepted her apology unconcerned with a quick wave of his hand, he probably knew that his son had started it but he didn't say it out loud. Joffrey had run off to complain to his mother, for which he knew he was getting an earful later.

As Gendry and Arya stood side by side against the wall, waiting for Catelyn to finally release them, Gendry looked at her. Her hair had loosened and her bun was hanging down at the nape of her neck. Her dress was covered with food from her outburst and from her wiping her hands on it. He held his hand to his mouth to muffle his arising laugh, she looked so much more like Arya right now.

\-----

Arya pushed down the door handle as softly as she could. The room was stuffy and warm. It was barely dawn but some light fell from between the curtains. She had to step over Robb's head, who slept closest to the door. Right next to him was Theon, he had his leg swung over her brother's body and held his pillow close to his chest. Jon frowned in his sleep and jerked, for a moment Arya thought she had woken him up. Bran had somehow managed to move sideways as he slept. Of course, Gendry had to sleep the furthest away. She looked at his unusually peaceful face first before she kneeled next to him.

The storm had been enduring late into the night when Cercei's car wouldn't start, to which Catelyn, much to the dismay of every party involved, suggested that she and her children stayed overnight and got their car fixed the next day. Cercei had reluctantly agreed, partly because of the alcohol she had consumed and her desire to lay down. Rooms had been rearranged, Gendry had joined Robb and Theon in their room, Jon had fallen asleep in their room as well and Bran laid down next to them because he wanted to be a part of the slumber party.

Arya poked Gendry's shoulder and whispered his name but it took another poke from her to wake him up. He looked at her confused and she held her hand against his mouth to keep him from making a sound. If they woke the others, it would be harder to sneak out.

"Let's go and see if the den is alright." She had moved in even closer to keep her voice as low as possible. Gendry swatted her hand away.

"It's too early for that, let's go later."

"Later won't work." Her family would ask too many questions and with that many people in the house, it would be harder to be inconspicuous.

"No," Gendry groaned and turned away from her, pulling his blanket over his head.

"Get dressed, I'll be waiting for you outside." With that, she left as quietly as she had entered. Outside, she leaned against the wall and eyed the clock on the commode. It only took a few minutes for Gendry to appear next to her with a loud sigh. He didn't make an effort to tame his hair and he glared at her with his still halfway-shut eyes. She hadn't doubted that he would accompany her even if it was early. He would scorn and complain and curse but in the end, he would still give in to her.

The air outside was crisp and still smelled like rain when it had stopped sometime during the night. The ground was muddy and stuck to their soles as they walked. Most of the hedges and bushes and flowers were damaged. Arya had already seen the trees at the edge of the forest which had fallen but now that she was walking past those trunks and branches, skewed and broken, the extent of the damage the storm had caused was much worse than she had feared.

The further they went into the woods the quicker Arya was walking, she was almost running when they reached the Wolf-Head-Tree and came to an abrupt stand when the den came into view. Or what was left of it. The roof had come off and was laying in one piece some feet away. The walls had been broken down, except the one that had been fixed to the tree. The interior was scattered all over the clearing.

Gendry's eyes wandered from the curtain that had somehow found itself in a tree crown to Arya's dropped shoulders. "It's all gone," he heard her whisper as she slowly inspected the shambles. She started picking up some of the stuff that was laying on the ground, a leaf garland and one of their swords, which were covered in dirt.

He wasn't as emotionally attached to the shack as Arya had been. It had been her special secret place. But the past two summer he had spent some good time here, he had scouted the forest with her and her friends, sometimes they would include him in the games they played but mostly he had watched them as he sat on the roof. It was a good place to get away from everyone and everything.

The ruffling behind him announced Hot Pie and Lommy joining them."Arya, Gendry." They were horrified about the sight that was before them.

"It's completely destroyed," Hot Pie cried. Lommy on the other hand just looked around without making a sound. Gendry watched the three of them standing together, taking in the remnant of the shack they had proudly called their 'wolf's den'.

Arya started putting everything that wasn't broken into a pile. "Well," she said, "we will have to build a new one then."

"What?" Hot Pie and Lommy looked at her with big eyes.

"It was getting too small for us anyway, even more after Gendry joined." She gestured in his direction and he saw it as a sign to join their small circle. "He is huge."

"Sure, it's just me who doesn't fit anymore," Gendry grumbled and peered at Hot Pie's round belly.

"Whatever. Fact is that we can use this as an opportunity to built something even better," Arya said. Gendry was glad that she didn't take the destruction of her special place as hard or maybe she was just very good at hiding it. "We should make a plan and start right away if we want to finish by the end of summer. It took us two summers to built this one."

"Small problem, my parents are forcing me to visit my gran for a few weeks." Hot Pie didn't seem very eager to go.

"My family and I are going on a beach trip," Lommy said.

"I'd much rather stay Arya, believe me." Hot Pie stressed his last words with a hand gesture.

"I wouldn't," Lommy added and Hot Pie hit his arm.

Arya ignored their banter, "That's not good, Gendry and I will have to start on our own then."

Gendry let out air through his nose, wondering when he had become such an integral part of their group.

"What? You don't want to?" Arya snapped.

"I never said that," Gendry answered calmly.

"Well, you better not." It was too early to argue with her anyway. For a while, the four of them went about the clearing and collected all the things that were still in one piece. Now and then Gendry would throw a gaze at Arya and he could see that she was deep in thought. She was probably already planning what she would do with every item that she picked up.

They didn't stay in the forest for long, as they had to be back at the house before anyone noticed that they had left together, so they bid Hot Pie and Lommy goodbye and Arya told them that she would call them about their next meeting before they left for their individual activities.

"We have to get wood from somewhere," Arya pondered. "A lot, if we want to make it bigger."

"Where did you get it from the last time?" She was surprised to hear that Gendry was actually listening to her, she had almost forgotten that he was walking next to her.

"Most of it we got from the shed in our backyard my father and Uncle Robert tore it down because the roof was leaking. They built a new one and we took some of that wood too."

"I guess we'll have to think of something, maybe we can collect some from these." The fallen trees by the edge of the forest came into view and he rose his chin at it.

Arya thought about that, they would have to be careful and do it before they started to clear away the trees. "You're going to help us then?"

Gendry shrugged. "Sure."

"Promise?" she asked. He laughed because something as wistful didn't sound like something Arya would say. But she looked at him in all seriousness.

"Promise." There was no way of getting out of it now. Not with Arya.

\-----

Cercei sat as far away from the others as possible. Despite the early hours, she had found herself a bottle of wine and not even the adults felt brave enough to lecture her about it. When Catelyn told her that the mechanic might take a while longer to arrive because the roads were still blocked, the wine almost slopped out of her glass as she waved that she had understood. Robert had been avoiding Cercei since the party and who knew whether him saying that he felt unwell this morning was just an excuse not to share a breakfast table with her.

Joffrey was glaring at Arya from across the room but she was too busy with tending to her plan for a new den to mind him. She had sat down next to Rickon on the floor, sharing his crayons between them as they both drew. She had overheard how her father had called people to tidy up the mess the storm had left outside and cleared away the trees. So she had snuck into Robb's room again, where Gendry was taking a nap. And once again she had poked him to wake him up. He had looked at her in a huff like he was ready to shove her out the window. "Arya, for the love of God let me sleep."

"I just want to tell you that we need to hurry with the wood."

"Yeah the wood, of course."

"We have to collect some later, you hear me." She wasn't even whispering anymore.

"Yeah, I hear you." He had pushed a pillow against his ear. She wasn't sure whether he had actually understood but he had turned his back to her and grunted to drive her away. Maybe she should start without him and just call the others.

When she was at the door she had turned around again. "Don't forget," she had hissed, then she watched how he rose the pillow from his head and threw it at her.

\-----

"What's that?" Theon asked, tilting his head to detect what the many lines on Arya's paper meant.

"I'm working on something." She didn't elaborate further, he lingered behind her to figure it out on his own but gave up. He left after he threw a grin at Joffrey, he and Robb had commemorated her for attacking him yesterday. Sansa, on the other hand, was angry at her for it and had thrown her out of the room, they had shared together with Myrcella, earlier.

Bran and Tommen were playing video games and shouted while they were at it, as her older brothers lazed about the sofa. They had planned to play some ball outside but the ground was still too muddy.

The fifth sigh of the afternoon left Robb's lips and he jumped up from the couch. "I'm bored, let's go into town." He was already tugging Jon to his feet.

"Didn't your parents say to stay inside today?" Theon was just about to sit down between them.

"It'll be alright." He answered with a shrug, Jon and Theon were already following him when he turned to leave the living room. They saw Gendry groggily trotting down the stairs. "Sleeping Beauty is awake," Robb called.

"Shut up." He shoved them all aside as they were blocking his way on purpose.

"We're going to town you coming with?" Jon asked.

Gendry looked past him at Robb and Theon as he scratched the back of his head. "I dunno."

"Just come with," Robb said and walked ahead. Jon grabbed Gendry by the shoulder and pulled him with.

When Arya heard the front door open and Robb calling to their parents that they were going out, she hurried down the hallway. It was only him left by the front door, she could see the others walking down the path away from the house, Jon and Theon holding Gendry between them.

"Where are you going?" she asked him, he was just about to close the door.

"Just out."

"Can I come with?" She could see how he hesitated in answering her.

"How about you stay this time?" Robb's voice was soft.

"Why? I wanna come with."

"Just this time Arya." He closed the door to prevent the impending discussion.

"Hey!" She grabbed the door handle as soon as it had shut but stopped herself in pushing it down. What use was it to go after them when they didn't want her with them?

"Arya, what are you doing?" Her father had appeared at the end of the hallway and was walking toward her.

"I wanted to go too," she muttered, her father had put a hand on the back of her head like he always did and led her back to the living room.

"Don't take it too hard. They are boys and older at that, sometimes they just want to do things on their own." That seemed hardly sensical, Arya was much closer to Jon, Robb and Theon than Gendry was and she was much closer to Gendry than Jon, Robb and Theon were, whether they were older or boys should not be a factor to determine who did what with whom.

"Things like what?"

"You know, boy things."

"What are boy things?" She wasn't stupid, she knew where he was getting at. But she still wanted to hear what exactly it was that she did that did not fit into that category.

He was staring at her, unable to answer then he chuckled and the challenging expression on Arya's face deepened.

"What are you laughing about?"

"Ah, it's nothing." He left her standing at the doorway to the living room. Bran and Tommen were still playing, Cercei's wine glass was left discarded by the window. Rickon looked up from his drawing when she rejoined him on the ground. Seeing her plan, she remembered that she still needed Gendry to help her and she became more irritated about the fact that he had left without even seeing her.

"Stupid Gendry," she murmured, ripping up her plan. "Stupid Jon, stupid Robb, stupid Theon." With every tear, she spoke a new name. She took a new piece of paper and picked up a crayon.

"Why should I care what they do?" she said as she drew a new line.

\-----

As Gendry walked up the hill, he spotted a van in the driveway. He noted that the mechanic must have arrived to fix Cercei's car and rejoices that he wouldn't have to see her and Joffrey at least for the rest of the summer. Part of him believed that they were the reason Robert had taken to alcohol or he had gathered that much from the drunken talks he occasionally had with himself in his office.

He saw Arya leaving the house and quickened his steps, calling out to her. He had left the others in town before they even had the chance to ask why he was going back to the house. When he was closer to her he noticed the tote bags she carried over her shoulder. "You are back already," she said. He wanted to grab the bags but she turned her body as if she hadn't noticed him reaching for them. "I thought I would do without you."

Gendry frowned. "Well, I'm here now, so what's the problem?"

"There is no problem. You're just too late."

"Too late for what?" He glanced at the fallen trees to their side. "Collecting all the wood that's laying around?" She knew that he was aware she hadn't started collecting yet and that her bags were empty or the fact that she had just left the house. As if to hide the former, she turned her body a little more.

Gendry crossed his arms in front of his chest. "So what, you're going to do it all on your own?"

"Maybe I am." She rose her chin and twinkled at him daringly. "Maybe I can do without your help."

"Why are you so pissed?" He took one more step closer.

"I am not." She stepped closer too.

"Yes, you are," he challenged. "You wake me up, twice I might add, telling me to help and here I am. Now you are saying that you don't want me to."

"Gee, I'm sorry that I disturbed your slumber." She was walking away from him now.

"It's not about that." He almost tailed her but stopped himself when he realized how quickly she was stomping off. "You can't just boss people around."

"Whatever." She rose a hand without even looking back at him. "Don't follow me!"

"I wasn't going to!" As he watched her disappearing between the trees, he asked himself as to what they even had been arguing about and where this sudden heat had come from. He should have stayed in town. Sure it hadn't been very exciting but at least he wouldn't have to get shouted at by someone half his size.

He stood there in the yard for a while, thinking about what was left for him to do now. He didn't feel like walking back to the others and he had too much pride to actually go after Arya. He could probably take another nap or sit with Bran. He sighed when his eyes fell on the hood of Cercei's car, which was poking out from the garage. Gendry turned his head and caught the mechanic rummaging through his toolbox, holding a tiny flashlight between his teeth. Closing in, Gendry cleared his throat. "You need any help?"

\-----

It was late in the afternoon. To Arya's dismay, Gendry was still outside when she came back. He was talking to the mechanic as he was leaning against his van, both of them were covered in grease stains. Once she saw her father standing by Cercei's car, she threw her emptied bags into the next bush and wiped her dirty hands on her trousers. Gendry saw her when she pushed herself against the wall to sneak past her father. He didn't say anything and let her slip into the house, which aggravated her for some reason.

Inside, her mother and Cercei were exchanging last pleasantries so obviously feigned that Arya wondered why they even bothered with no one else except Robert around, who stood uninterested between them. Her father entered the house behind her, informing them that the driver had arrived as well.

"Arya, where have you been?" her mother asked when she had tried to slowly ascend the stairs. Arya turned and pretended to have been on her way downstairs instead.

"Around the house of course, where else?" She heard Gendry snort and realized that he had followed her father back inside. No one else minded him, but she threw a glare at him.

"I was looking for you earlier, I thought that you followed the boys," Catelyn said, next to her Cercei was glancing over Gendry's dirty appearance.

"What did you do son, roll around in the mud?" Robert spoke and Gendry rolled his eyes.

"Come on kids, get in the car!" Cercei called, summoning Myrcella and Tommen from the living room. "Where is your brother?" Cercei stayed well clear of Gendry when she walked out, by all means trying to avoid to get into contact with him.

A sigh of relief escaped both her parents and Robert, Arya used it as an opportunity to walk upstairs before her mother remembered to ask her more questions about where she had been. As she inspected her body on her way to her room she realized how much dirt really covered her arms and she was sure that she had several splinters in her hands, which in itself wasn't that unusual for one of her trips into the forest.

"Stop it, Joffrey." She heard Sansa's muffled voice coming from their room. "I don't want to." The alarming uneasiness in her voice made Arya panic and she pushed the door open. She saw her sister pressed against the bed frame with Joffrey's hands holding onto her upper body. She met Sansa's widened eyes and rushed to their side to push Joffrey off of her.

"Get away from my sister." Joffrey bounced off the bed and fell to the ground. He grunted and cursed as he regained his balance.

"You dirty little thing really need to be taught a lesson," he said, quickly standing up and grabbing Arya by the neck.

"Joffrey, stop it," Sansa tried to drag him away but he pushed her, she fell with her backside hitting the nightstand and resounded in pain.

He was clawing his fingers into Arya so she rose her fist and punched him in the face. Sansa gasped. He winced, letting go of her immediately. Her hand ached from the punch but she didn't let it show. "You bitch," he cursed as he held his hand against his eye. His face had reddened in his fury. "I'm going to kill you."

He threw hands at her once again and she started kicking him, missing him more often than actually managing to hit him. Sansa threw herself between them, "Stop it." In their struggle to gain the upper hand, throwing fists and kicks, Arya tripped over one of the bedspreads on the ground. Sansa ducked to help her up when Joffrey rose his fist at her.

But Gendry appeared by his side, getting a hold of his arm. "The fuck you think you're doing?"

Joffrey struggled in releasing himself from his grip and Gendry squeezed his hand tightly, making him wither. Then Gendry let go and shoved him away hard enough to make him stumble backwards. "Piss off, your mother is calling you."

Arya could see in Joffrey's eyes that he was trying to size Gendry up to decide whether he could overpower him. It must have taken him just a moment to realize that that thought process was futile. Gendry was much bigger than him, in both height and width, Joffrey might even be the weakest person in the room. His hands moved from his arm where Gendry had grabbed him to his eye where Arya had punched him. She hoped that it hurt at least as much as her hand did. "Dirty rats," he cursed as he left the room.

"You alright?" Gendry glanced over Sansa once, who nodded, then he held his hand towards Arya to help her up.

"I'm fine," Arya said, pushing his hand away and standing up on her own. "I could have handled it by myself."

"Yes, I saw," he replied and from his expression, she couldn't discern whether he was being serious or sarcastic. She ignored him and turned to her sister.

"Are you okay?" There was a small scratch on Sansa's face and judging by the chaos from earlier it was unclear whether it was done by Joffrey or Arya herself. Sansa nodded, the smallest ghost of a smile played on her lips. She enveloped Arya's throbbing hand, it hurt, even more, when she squeezed lightly but Arya let her.

\-----

The gardeners had started early in the morning to clean up the yard. Arya watched them for a while from her window as they patched up the holes of the bushes that had been torn out and tidied away the branches that had gathered all over the yard. Flowers needed to be replanted as well. Arya would have loved to run outside to help them and she had even asked her parents whether she was allowed to. Her father had slowly shaken his head and her mother had told her that that wasn't proper. She should have just gone for it without asking for their permission and tested how long it would have taken for them to notice she had joined the staff.

She tried to convince herself that her interest in gardening was the sole reason for why she was staring out the window and not the fact that Gendry had left for town shortly after her brothers had. They should be starting to work on the new den today with the material she, Hot Pie and Lommy had collected yesterday. But this morning Arya had felt too conflicted to ask him about it. She had peered at him over the breakfast table quite obviously to make him approach her first. Even when she was still angry at him, for reasons she did not really understand, she wanted him to help her. He had quietly eaten his breakfast, not speaking to anyone, sparing her just a blank stare before he had left for his room, which he had for himself again.

Sansa had leaned down to her and asked her whether they had had an argument.

"Why would you think that?" Arya had asked and Sansa shrugged.

"He usually talks to you."

Arya sighed, she should just give up and try to make amends once he returned. Maybe he would forget about it after a while, even when she was convinced that he was that kind of person who held grudges. She saw how one of the workers found the tote bags she had thrown to the ground between the leaves of one tousled bush and she rushed downstairs. She slipped outside without anyone noticing and found the bags laid out carefully by the side of the path. She might as well try to build the scaffolding of the den on her own.

She waited for the gardeners to look away before she grabbed some more wood from the pile they had collected and crammed it into her bag. With her plan neatly folded and tucked away in her back-pocket she walked in the direction of the forest. Skillfully she found her way to the clearing. They had cleaned up the mess the storm had made as best as they could. There was still a heap of broken things, which they were too attached to get rid off completely but would have to eventually. When she saw Gendry by the stack of wood they had gathered she stood still, she almost let her bag fall to the ground.

"You're late," he greeted as he carried some logs over to the middle of the clearing. "Where have you been? I was here nearly an hour ago." His voice didn't sound as annoyed as it should be and she almost thought that she was imagining him being here.

Arya cleared her throat and hoped that it didn't show too much that she was surprised to see him. "I brought more stuff." She held up her bag and walked to his side. She recognized how he had arranged some materials to form a framework for the shack.

He kneeled and beheld his work before he held up his hand to her. "Give me that plan of yours."

She produced the piece of paper from her pocket, wondering when he had seen it. "I thought you went into town with the others."

He studied her drawing and somehow the time he took for it made her feel self-conscious about what she had drawn up. "I did, to get some nails." He pointed at the boxes by a hammer, which he had probably purchased together with the nails. "Didn't your plan tell you that you would need those?"

"Of course it did." It didn't. Pressing her lips together she kneeled next to him. He gestured for her to help her nail two pieces of wood together, wordlessly she took a hold of the end of one and held it up the way he ordered her to.

"I thought that you would be too angry to help," she said sheepishly.

"I was angry," he answered after he had stopped hammering and grabbed another nail. She had to hold on more tightly to keep the wood from slipping as he hit away again. "But I promised to help you, didn't I?" He wasn't looking up from his work as he spoke so he didn't see the smile she gave him. She should have known that Gendry wasn't someone who broke his word, not even something he had said in a daze after she had dragged him out of bed at dawn.

"You wouldn't have let me hear the end of it if I broke my promise. I know how much of a pain in the ass you can be." The teasing tone in his voice made her feel elated.

"I can be a lot worse," she joked.

"I don't want to know," he replied.


End file.
